A recent sales study indicates that consumption of seafood dishes in Bay City restaurants has increased by 30 percent during the past five years. Yet there are no currently operating city restaurants whose specialty is seafood. Moreover, the majority of f

At first glance, the claim that the new Captain Seafood restaurant in Bay City, which specialty is seafood, will be quite popular and profitable might seem logical. However, we need to analyse carefully, the assumptions and evidence presented in the argument to establish the claim.

The author cites a recent sales study that indicates an increase in the consumption of seafood in the city by 30 percent during the past five years. The author fails to tells us the relationship between this statistics and the annual population for each of these years within the five years. For example, if the statistics is an average of the five years, then it might be misleading to assume that the restaurant will have enough customers to patronize their seafood product line, especially if the data for last year shows a decline in the number of persons eating the seafood. We need to also establish the population that was used in the study, does the population truly represent the entire city or is the claim made based on the opinion of a select few? We also need to establish the questions that was posed to the population during the study to ensure that it would truly help find out how much the people like and consume seafood.

Furthermore, the author states that there are restaurants whose specialty is seafood in other to support his claim. The fact that there is no restaurant that specializes in seafood does not necessarily mean that the others are not serving seafood. If the other restaurants serve seafood, then the new restaurant might likely face stiff competition from the existing restaurants.

It would have helped if it was established whether the inhabitants of Bay city like to eat their seafood meals from the restaurants or they like preparing the meals on their own. The new eatery will likely face a very hard time with these product line if these people like to prepare their seafood meals at home.

In conclusion, the author does not present a strong case to corroborate his claim. His argument is rife with holes and unsubstantiated assumptions which are misleading. While it may be through that the new Captain Seafood restaurant will be quite popular and profitable, the author of these article fails to establish the claim in the article.